Political Quotes

“I support the fossil energy program because, contrary to some of the arguments made on this floor, it has produced meaningful results that have benefited all Americans. Let me give the Members some examples. Let us talk about cleaner air. Fifteen years ago the old technology that could effectively remove smog-causing nitrogen oxide pollutants from a power plant cost $3,000 per ton of NO<INF>X</INF> reduced. But DOE's clean coal research helped develop better lower-cost combustion technologies. Today that research has reduced pollution control costs to less than $200 a ton, and 75 percent of the coal-burning plant capacity in this country uses these new low-polluting burners. Let us talk about sulfur emissions, one of the pollutants associated with acid rain. Today sulfur emissions from power plants are down 70 percent since 1975, even though the use of coal has increased by more than 250 percent. Many utilities installed scrubbers to reduce sulfur pollutants, and more will likely be installed in the future. But in the 1970s, scrubbers were expensive and unreliable. Today, largely because of DOE's research, scrubbers are much more affordable and reliable, and they cost only one-fourth as much as they did in the 1970s. That alone has saved the United States ratepayers more than $40 million a year, and more than $40 billion since 1975.”